The last time and first time I was in Louisiana was back in Dec 1013. I have to say I have a crush on New Orleans. On that trip we hit up all the touristy things to do, and popular areas in the city like the Bourbon Street, Garden District, French Quarter, Faubourg Marigny... we dined at Emerils, and Cafe du Monde, known for their famous cafe' au lait, beignets,... took a horse drawn carriage ride, did a walking ghost tour, cemetery walks, visited the Mardi Gras World Museum, Jackson Square, The National WWII Museum, lunched on magazine street, visited a voodoo priestess, took a boat ride down the Mississippi river to Algiers point, listened to Jazz at the famous Spotted Cat Club and bar hoped and ate Italian food on Frenchman Street, hurricane at the old Lafittes blacksmith shop bar, the oldest ... and so much more. And it was extra special then because everything was decorated for Christmas.

​This time I'm having a quick visit, short and sweet. Mardi Gras just ended and I am on a search for beads, for a contest I am having over @ Sea Gypsies Boutique. We got a rental car this time around so it is nice to be able to get around quick. TIP : Check rates. Don't just go for the first quote you get ask for a day more or a day less to see how the rate changes. for example for us it was 85.00 for 3 days or 250 for 2.5....

We arrived late at night so our first stop was straight to our hotel, a Hilton Airport hotel, to get some sleep to awake for our drive to Baton Rouge, LA.​

SEARCHING FOR BEADS ​I had no issues with finding beads ! Before we headed out to BR we drove around NO a bit... As we drove up and down the parade routes we saw beads on fences and on the ground and in the trees ! ALL over the trees ! Amazing.

On our way from New Orleans to Baton Rouge it's about an hour drive on what I call a Bayou-Biway, swampland on each side of you the entire way. I would suggest finding a nice Cajun radio station that plays some "swamp pop", that's what we did, it really kicks up the experience. On our way we passed throught some awesome bridges, crossing the winding mississippi river, stopped to take a few photos.

Baton Rouge surprised me, with it's art and architecture down by the Riverwalk, located on the mighty mississippi. ​We visited the mall of Baton Rouge, then made our way over to the Riverwalk where they have a space and planetary museum, the ship the USS Kidd, the old State Capital museum, (most closed sunday by the time we got there) We like our state capitals so like to get an IG pic for our collections. IG: LadyDiWanderlust We got both the old and new state capitals. : )

We checked into the Hyatt Baton Rouge, which is a fairly nice hotel, except for the cleaning staff ! OH My goodness.. I experienced endless hours of door slamming and hollering to one another down the hallways. Nothing I have ever experienced at any hotel anywhere, in all of my world travels !

We dined at two spots that were a walk across a parking lot from one another... because after we perused their menus on our phone apps we couldn't decide which one to try. The first one the Rum House Caribbean Taqueria, we enjoyed rum cocktails and some side dishes, their jalapeno coleslaw, roasted poblano & manchego polenta, (which was awesome ! ) mac & cheese, and jerked rasta veggies etc the second the Olive or Twist, hand crafted cocktails and appz, fried green tomatillos and a pita bread dish (puffy and warm and soft, oh my goodness, like no pita I have ever had !) I took a chance on cocktail roulette where you name a base spirit and they make you a surprise cocktail. Sundays places close early, so we took what we could find, which were great, convenient choices in the end.

Day 2 :: Not much to do while my husband is out teaching hair, so I made plans to hit the gym and made beaded baubles for Sea Gypsies Boutique in my room. For dinner the recommendation was to go to Bistro Byronz ... a cute Louisiana Bistro/ french restaurant. I enjoyed some fried green tomatoes, my husband sipped on a Kathy Bates (gin infused drink with green tomatoes in it !) I have to say the food we experienced here in Baton Rouge was quite delicious.

Back to New Orleans... we awoke to TORNADO WARNINGS heading to Baton Rouge !​Yikes... we are out of here, but first one quick stop at a wholesale bead store 10 minutes away and then back on the Bayou Biway...

We drove back to N.O. in rain, drove around the city in the stormy weather ! Rain and wind, but no sign of tornados where we were, although the phone weather apps we were using showed that it was all around New Orleans and showed tornadoes touching down, we never saw one. ​We found ourselves driving around cemeteries and I thought, what a great place to be if a tornado touches down, because those marble mosoleums aren't going anywhere ! Duck and cover. Their cemeteries are glorious with their architecture and stained glass. A must see and do. The Weather Channel featured a video clip I posted on my IG, pretty cool !

We drove around and continued our search for beads, I could grab handfuls of plain beads all day long, hanging on iron fences and gates in front of residences. But I was in search of just the ones with medallions, special ones, so it made our "hunt" that much more challenging and in the rain, sort of miserable !! LOL But we did it ! (my poor hubby, he's awesome !) I wasn't sure of the rules of taking beads, if there were guidelines, wife tales ... if you take one you must leave one ? If someone leaves one, it's good luck, if you take one you'll get bad luck, or your just rude for stealing ! My guilt was keeping our taking sparse and selective.

* When I got home I googled it. I found that the beads on the gates and fences are in fact decoration, not trade or taking intended. YIKES !

We found most of our beads along St. Charles ave (Garden district) in the end, we collected 20 strands. We drove around the Freshmans street, Canal street, Bourbon street .... tried meeting up with a friend for lunch, who was in town. ended up eating at a place called the Voodoo BBQ & Grille, being a vegetarian I only had the sides which were all good, very friendly people. We headed back to the airport extra early to be certain to catch our flight, not knowing the conditions on the highways. It was all good. Our flight was only delayed a bit, by the lightening strikes.

and the winner is...

​I still have a crush on New Orleans ... it's one of those places I don't mind doing again and again.

​

Give us your favorite to do's and sees in Louisiana for our next visit out. Would love to hear from you. ​

2. Contact your credit card companies to let them know that you will be using your cards out of the country. This takes just a few minutes for them to note and prevents your cards from being shut down, saving you time, hassle and embarrassment.

3. Check theCDC's site for up to date recommendations on vaccinations, health risks, and travel notices while abroad. Ask your doctor as well for preventive antibiotic medicine that you can take along with you to prevent other illnesses. It's also a good idea to get a physical and dental checkup.

4. Ensure you havetravel insurance. You can find out if your health insurance covers you while away, with a quick phone call. If not, there are many travel insurance companies out there providing reliable emergency coverage. Just be sure to read the fine print.

5. Check that your passport is valid and good for the required amount of time you will be gone and beyond. Make photo copies of your passport, leave 1 with family and pack a few with you. And check visa requirements as well for entering countries, here, buy ahead if you can, this will save you time in lines at the airport.

50/50 before 50, a Quest by Lady Di Wanderlust@dibythesea.com

50 US States and 50 Countries before I turn age 50. That's it, that's the Quest.

September starts as both the beginning and the tail end of my Quest.
I hope to reach 50 States and 50 Countries by the age of 50, on November 23, 2017.
Which means as of today I have just 9 states and 7 countries left to go to conquer my Quest !
and

Today I had my first ever tape-in extensions put in by Lex Elan, Ink at Salon Platinum. These things are amazing ! You can go from thin, short hair to full long hair in as little as 20 minutes !! EasiHair Pro uses a surgical type of tape that last up to 6 weeks. You can even swim in them:) I am thinking about keeping them in for my upcoming International trip, will keep you posted. check out the video I made, I was even the model. Thank you Alexis Wacker, I love them. WHAT's a MERMAID without long hair !

We were heading this time to the islands for 6 total days, for work with an add-on of a few days of pleasure. Destination, Oahu, known as the "Gathering place", the largest of the islands, Waikiki specifically.

With plenty of time to get from home to airport, we managed to find ourselves in a very long security line with 20 minutes before boarding. Tip: when buying our tickets we decided to fork out the extra dough for an upgrade to priority class, well worth it ! This little upgrade got us out of the long standard line and right into the empty VIP line just to the right and directly into our gate !

Delta Economy Comfort Upgrade: This gets you priority boarding, priority line at security and the reservationist told us on the phone free drinks, we found this NOT to be the case. :( (turns out it's only on select international flights, we were mis informed by the Delta Res. agent) I booked my ticket with miles ! :) only paid for cash for the upgrade.

A little bit about tickets. In this day and age of technology you can go paperless ! (read about tickets on your iphone in my previous posts, scanning from your cell phone) You can opt for printing your tickets from your computer at home, you can email and post email your tickets to yourself and have access to all of your information/documents right in the palm of your hand.

5 -1/2 hour plane ride. Tip: Always be friendly with your flight crew. A little smile and an engaging convo goes a long way, as you will see later (and you will see in quite a lot of our trips)

Tip: For the less traveled or newbie flier, if you didn't make it to the restroom pre-boarding in the airport due to various reasons, it is okay for you to use the airplane facilities while boarding/before takeoff. :)

We arrived to a beautiful sunny day. TIP: If you are flying in in the day, be sure to have your camera ready (window seat) you get views of pearl city/pearl harbor... aircraft, we saw a submarine leaving the harbor. Transportation choices to our hotel were taxi or SpeediShuttle. A ride in style in a Mercedes we were glad to go with the speedi, because you get to see a bit around the island while dropping off other passegers. The Shuttle held 8-10 passengers, it cost 8.00- 10.00 cheaper than a cab ride to our hotel. it dropped at 4 hotels (we were the 3rd). While shuttling you get the benefit of a little micro tour with guide info, like where to eat, local bus info: when riding the bus tickets are 2.00 (you get 1 free transfer, but be sure to ask for it) or you can purchase a pass for 25.00 for all week on and off at the ABC (general merchandise store) and free fireworks show over at the Hilton !

Of the 3 hotels we stopped at the Marriotts landing/entrance was spectacular. Wide open, breezeway, fresh orchids lined the planters, waterfall and pond water features, with koi...

At the reception we were greeted by a beautiful girl, (complimenting her) we inquired to her if she knew if we were getting a high up floor (a hint to our wishes) Although our room wasn't ready, there's plenty to do at this Marriott. Lot of food options and shopping on property. We booked with a great rate via a Delta SkyMiles Promotion. "Look no further, you've received the best possible rate" stated our confirmation paper.

Into the restrooms we went for a quick change into poolside loungewear and bathingsuits ! Mr. Wacker you are NOT A WAHINI.. just sayin'. Yep, he changed in the ladies restroom, walked out of the stall to a few odd looks from the line of wahinis waiting their turn !

We headed straight to the pool and terrace restaurant... along the way we passed their 2 pools which were surprisingly small, but then again does it really matter, after all you are on an island surrounded by a spectacular ocean and beautiful beaches, a playground in paradise.

settled down in a seat by the bar with WAIKIKI BEACH VIEWS !!! :) smiles all around. The Moana Terrace Bar & Grille (sits on the corner and along the main strip across from the beach) We enjoyed some pork sliders w/ onion rings. ... welcome drinks... (Menu) because we were not checked-in we were unable to charge our room, we decided to enjoy another round of the bartenders specials...tropical fruit concotions, when our waitress returned she offered to check to see if we had a designated room, ready or not to charge our meal to, turns out our room was ready!... Off we ran.

Back to our same reception girl, she smiled... turns out we were given the TOP highest floor. #33 (the bell captain seemed quite pleased with our room number) with the most spectacular view of DIAMOND HEAD ! ... and the zoo... and the ocean and building rooftops/pools... it's quite a packed little island.

Our accommodations were standard room, king. While settling in 2 white doves decided to venture in from our open sliding glass door on the terrace and gave my husband a very odd welcoming dance before they sped out.

We were off to hit Waikiki Beach, just a minutes walk, across the street from our hotel :) A portion of the beach is jettied off, so there is a nice calm man-made pool, perfect for family and children to play and relax about. As soon as I got into the water I saw something move ! It appeared to be a crawling rock... turns out it was a white crab. (see my video on my facebook page) *Tip : wear water shoes in Hawaii, for this reason and because the ocean floor has rocks and is very corally. It wasn't long before we passed out on the sand. Awoken by our friend David C. Lee CEO of Destination Luxury, who was in town filming a music video, for the Dukes of Surf, we hurried back to our hotel to get ready for a night out on the town with David, Julian and the band.

We set out for the complimentary firework show at the Hilton Waikiki Village Lagoon, free every friday night 7:45p (see video) You can also enjoy the fireworks from the beach - "great spot on the Jetty!", word from our hotel valet. We chose to go to the resort itself to check out the property as well. (I really wanted to stay at this property, only it was sold out, due to the Iron Man happening this week. Just about a 5 minute taxi ride, pretty spectacular !! With a little time still to kill before we were to meet with out friend David, we took a stroll around the Royal Hawaiian (the second oldest hotel on the island) (where I wish to stay when we return in March) and along the strip (the rodeo drive of Oahu) We grabbed a bite to eat at Kenny's Hawaiian BBQ in the the food court of the Royal Hawaiian Center. Our friends David and Julien met us out and about on the main strip, they were dressed 1970's Hawaiian style, turned out they found a swanky vintage clothing store on the island (I will get back to you with the name) a quick liquor grab at the nearest ABC store for some pre-gaming and we were off to meet up with the other 1/2 of our party.

First stop, China Town Honolulu and Bar 35 for music, lounging and people watching. Luckily our friend knew what to say to get us past a very long line and into the outdoor lounge ! - thanks David ! Next, and last stop, The Modern Resort andAddiction Nightclub, dancing all night ! This place is so lux without being pretentious. During the day a bookcase hides the bar reception room from the resort lobby. The ceiling looked like caviar eggs. (later we heard from our friend Marta that China Town wasn't an ideal spot for Haole to go (locals derogatory term for whities!, which explains some of the non-friendly facial expressions I met with my smiles by the males in the club)

That night was such a BLAST !!

My goals for this trip after researching and youtubing... were to hit the Ala Moana beach park and Hanauma Bay for swimming with green sea turtles. Pretty simple, we only made it to 1, the locals we met throughout our stay informed out that the spots for turtles were Turtle Bay and Turtle Beach.

The following days I spent my time by the pool or on Waikiki beach, watching the surfers, supboarders and outriggers playing in the surf, floating on my tube (*tip: You can pick up floats and tubes at the ABC store, they will fill them with air for you for a very minimal fee, like .50 ) meanwhile my husband taught hair classes at a nearby salon for Salon Suppliers. He actually was on their tv station, Khon2 (see video) for a segment early 1 morning showing Alterna Haircares 1 Night Highlights Haute Pink, Streaking for Cure, for Breast Cancer Awareness month . I used the resort gym quite a few times, very clean, not crowded, nice view of the pool on the 3rd floor.

Our first breakfast we hit Egg's n Things (recommended by the speedi driver and locals at the salon model call) We arrived very hungry to find that you have to wait in this really long line to order. Then another really long line to pay, another long line to be seated. When we hadn't moved for 10 minutes, we were getting extremely impatient. The hostess told us we had a to-go-option that would speed up the process. We took it ! It sped us directly past the order line (the hostess took our order) and straight to the pay line. We still had to wait on an outside bench for our food to be called out to us. (meanwhile I needed a bathroom, found out that you needed a code to use the community bathroom which was on the bottom of the receipt, luckily we bought something!) The gentleman who brought out our food, took us back into the restaurant to pick out our condiments. it wasn't a help yourself, he was a valet of condiments of sorts. My husband went for the pancakes, they offered him coconut and pineapple syrup ! I went for the #1 dish, portuguese sausage and eggs, with house potatoes. Across the street to Waikiki beach to sit on a bench and enjoy our breakfast and who shows up ? Two white pigeons.

We enjoyed many an evening out with our friend Marta who brought us along for the trip. We enjoyed champagne while watching the sunset from her suite lanai room ! After we took a stroll from our hotel down the main strip and enjoyed dinner at Dukes. Dukes has a nice Hawaiian charm about it... ocean and sand right off the patio. They sell fresh leis right at the entrance, Mr. Wacker leid us both ! :)

Another night we stayed in the resort and were treated to dinner at one of the resorts restaurants d.k. Streakhouse... with two nights left we decided to go to the front desk and ask for a room change, they gave us a free upgrade to the opposite side of our current room in another tower (not the same as our friends) but it had the same great view of Waikiki beach and the church across the street from the resort. Turns out we had some clout, thank you Marriott.

A real treat was when we were invited to join the Salon Suppliers for dinner at the Side Street Inn, the pork chops are amazing ! Great food, great conversations with new friends :) (after talking to locals days later, we found out that you must really know someone to eat there, very authentic and delicious eats) Thank you Alex !

*Tip: If you are like us and like to save a penny by buying snacks and booze at convenience stores, Waikiki's got more ABC stores than Seattle's got Starbucks. We picked up POG a bottle of PAU (vodka made from pineapples in Maui) beautiful bottle, made a great souvenier. Keep your receipts, for every 100.00 you spend you get a free gift. Gifts turn out to be tote bags, mugs and calendars. We went for a tote and were upgraded to a Hello Kitty brand for our G.baby. :)

One of Hawaii's more recognized landmarks, the Sheraton Waikiki, stands at the tip of Waikiki Beach next to the Royal Hawaiian. You are steps away from the new Galleria, International Marketplace and more. This central location is used by almost every tour company for daily pick-up and drop-off to activities, sightseeing and shopping.

Adjacent the Royal Hawaii (also a Starwood Resort) the Sheraton was recently re-vamped... Upon check-in there were issues with our check-in paperwork... (not very helpful) ... Get to room...felt like a total downgrade from the Marriott !... our city view turned out to be a dirty rooftop view (airco unit, cigarette butts) and a faraway ocean peekaboo. After a few calls into the rooms manger, Douglas... no relief from this monstrocity. We decided to stop waisting valuable time and hit the pool...

The Oceanside INFINITY pool more than made up for our state-of-mind and quickly got us back into the groove, after all we were in paradise.

Our first "free day" we rented a car 3 blocks from the hotel at Enterprise (they pick you up, but my husband decided to walk) We rented a convertible mustang ! Jeff's Tip: Book the lowest car you would be happy to have, then do your upgrades at the desk or in the lot as you are picking up your car (more of a guarantee that they will upgrade you cheaper) Initial plan to circle the island in search of beautiful beaches, to swim with green sea turtles and to check out the 20' foot monster waves that had been happening at North shore just the night before.

Along our route we saw... Waimea Bay, North Shore. Turtle bay Hotel where they filmed : (*Tip: always take hwy #H3 going back to Waikiki) Waimaia Falls (well be back in March with the family to walk to the waterfall) Peacocks, Pipeline/Bonsai... blowhole, bays, beaches... surfers sheep, shrimp trucks, shaved ice and more !

We made it to Hanauma Bay... GORGEOUS ! It's 1.00 to park, 7.00per person to get in. You have to watch a 10 minute required video before you can go down to the bay, either by foot or tram (trams run 1.00 down and 1.25 back up) No alcohol allowed in. Bring water shoes ! Great snorkeling. clean bathrooms, lifeguards.

We hurried back at a snails pace in traffic, to the Sheraton, meeting up with Marta once again for a farewell dinner at Kai Market, Farm Fresh Buffet for dinner in the Sheraton we walked straight into a fire dancer performing out by the infinity pool for a small group. (see video) real cool. We were seated outside by the bar where there was live music and a hula dancer, nice touch.

Back to our room situation. Although the Sheraton was unable to change our accommodations (due to being full and the rate special we were staying on) My daughter made a few calls from the mainland and in the end we ended up getting our room at an even better rate from the mid 200's a night to start, down to just 88.00 a night ! THANK YOU SHERATON !

Our final few hours the next morning were spent at the Sheratons other pool, the Helumoa playground sitting oceanside with waterfall and waterslides. With limited loungers to choose from we went for the covered lounger aka cabana rentals at 10.00 an hr. *Tip: you can bring your own floatation devices to the pool but nothing large (see photo of my tube, it was too large)

A quick taxi to the airport. Smooth right through security. We board, our seats are in a back row with a side view literally into the bathroom ! ewwww. Like I mentioned earlier it pays to be friendly to your flight attendants. Turns out our flight attendant recognized us from our flght over, she ended up moving us up to a mid- 3 seat row ! :) A perfect end to a sweet week. Aloha !